Ethics in Sight

What does ethical leadership mean?

It is a leader who demonstrates ethical behavior in all actions, public and private, and embeds these ethical behaviors in their decisions. An ethical leader knows how these actions and decisions affect the common good. At its foundations, ethical leadership is grounded in behavior that will result in the good of the whole and not decisions driven by ego or egocentric means. It is built on characteristics of trust, respect, honesty, integrity, caring and grace. 

What ethical leadership is, is what ethical leadership does.

• Ethical leaders acknowledge the complexity of moral situations while staying true to their inner moral compass, which directs them to what is fair, open and honest.

• Ethical leaders continually communicate their core values to everyone in the organization and define what ethical behavior means to them using specific examples.

• Ethical leaders understand ethics in the workplace may be new to some people, so they institute ethics training programs and imbue ethics in decisions throughout the organization.